Finally Dell confirms M11x refresh!

You go to game with the computer you have, not the one that you wish you had.

 

+1 Well said. Otherwise you'd drive yourself nuts with a new release every three to six months. It makes sense to wait a few weeks if you're in the market and something is on the cusp, but if you already have a machine, no reason to fret.

 

im sure alot of people in the forums are selling their m11x's in light of a new one. iv already seen a few postings. this would save you on tax and whatnot. if you did decide to get an R1

 

Just talked to a dell representative and he told me that the new m11x would be announced tomorrow with pretty much the same specs, but with a $699 price point. No idea if that's true in anyway, but that's what he said

 

haha... i guess we'll see how reliable dell reps are.

but hey, im still hoping we're gonna get a nebula red option for the m11x as well... that would be SWEET. or better yet, something blue...

 

Well, I hope they're not bumping up the price from this refresh, or else the incentive of getting the m11x is reduced.

 

Really?:

 

hmm... I honestly can't say that believe that it will be announced tomorrow (hasn't E3 in June been it's confirmed release?). Anyway, nothing would make me happier than for it be announced tomorrow. So here's to a day of refreshing the internet all day tomorrow!

 

Yeah, now how about gaming performance?

 

Or how about real performance ^^

 

Everything is speculative at this point.

 

Well, gaming performance basically won't increase at all if the game in question isn't CPU bottlenecked, but if it is there will be a decent improvement. The "graphics" improvement mentioned is presumably comparing GMA HD against Intel's previous integrated graphics, so that won't matter so much. Nonetheless, it's nice to have a more powerful IGP, and with Optimus it should be easier to make better use of it.

Of course, you have to keep in mind that a few computers that use the SU7300 offer an official ~30% BIOS overclock for that CPU, which eats up much of the advantage of the Core i5 in that regard, and so indeed performance will be very similar between those two. If you can overclock the i5 then it will once again have an advantage, however.

 

i expect the i5 and the su7300 to be about the same performance. i bet the i5 has a small advantage because of the turboboost? but an i7 will definitely be an improvement. but we'll see supposedly gonna be announce tomorrow whats gonna be in the m11x right?

mine arrives tomorrow so if they announce something thats worth swapping for. i might return within my 21 days.

 

Yes, but again, the i5 only turbo boosts to 1.87GHz max. Asus has a 33% turbo boost raising both the bottom and top end speed by 33%, so 1.40GHz to 2.48GHz. Who knows if AW will offer a similar boost. I wouldn't count on it.

 

I agree, it would be nice, like a usb 3.0 port, but I just don't see it in the cards.

 

It's Alienware, they just have to provide some overclocking/extra boost. I think the new M11x with i3/i5/i7 is going to sell like butter. Hopefully they have Optimus, and a couple of other improvements as well. I don't mind if they announce it today...

 

What they need also is to get away from a 11" screen, at least go for a 13".

 

Yes go to a 13 inch screen but there is nothing this small and this cheap and customizable otherwise the Sony Vaio Z which was eh lolz. Just the build quality mostly, i really don't see a difference between the Su7300 and the new processors coming out. Has anyone tried overclocking higher than 1.73 GHZ? Does this machine use a pll chip? One could use setfsb.

 

hi there!

did you have a look at similar upgrades?

For example Povray 3.6 CPU comparison (sry, sources are german)... less is better:

• Acer UL30A with SU7300: 1742 seconds (Tests - Asus UL30A-QX050C - 1004 Minuten Akkulaufzeit auf notebookjournal.de)
• Acer UL30JT with i5-520UM: 927 seconds (Tests - Asus UL30JT - 13-Zoller mit Turbo und Optimus auf notebookjournal.de)
• M11x with SU7300: 1494 seconds (Tests - Alienware M11x - Ein Kleiner ganz Groß auf notebookjournal.de)

 

yeah i vote for 13"

*perfect for internet browsing
*just big enough to play starcraft2 on without scrolling all over to select all your carriers
*better for heat dissipation
*possibility to have a dvd drive for all the noobs that dont believe in digital distribution, be it i would change it for a second hdd

 

too bad i dont have to scroll all over the place to select my hydralisks that destroy your carriers. whoops XD

 

hahaha its on!

is starcraft2 mainly cpu intensive?

 

starcraft 2 is fairly cpu intensive but the m11x can run it on high settings perfectly. i think ultra settings are a bit too much but cant complain with high. especially when those zerg buildings are so beautiful XD

 

i made it chug down to 20fps on my i7 desktop on high!

epic massive zerg vs zerg battle so i found the limit of the beta

 

If it went to a 13 inch screen it would seize to be called the M11x. The 11 is not there just for show ya know. Also, leave my 11" screen alone! The only thing I want different with the screen is a higher quality one.

If you want a M13x, petition Alienware.

 

lol. i wish banelings were better. and reapers. they're too weak imo. anyways does anyone know if the optimus is in the refresh, that previous owners would get it too. because isnt optimus just a software thing?

 

For Optimus to work you need the video output to be connected to the IGP only, as opposed to both the discrete card and the IGP being connected via a multiplexer. As such, don't expect Optimus to come in an update.

 

thanks lackofcheese. i guess its no biggie to switch between graphics modes. i already do on my studio xps 13 so its already a pretty natural thing for me

 

how does the m11x handle this... and especially 4vs4 matches?

 

yeah, I don't expect optimus because not only does it need to route the video through the IGP, it uses a different Mobo. That's a pretty big change and I can't see them doing a whole Mobo swap. But who knows! It is Alienware.


P.S. look what I found

http://netbooked.net/deals/deal/11.6-alienware-m11x-memorial-day-sale-699-8-shipping

 

pretty good deal. i got mine for pretty cheap so im all set though.

 

nice, looks like alienware wants to clear out existing inventory

 

somehow i can imagine all other netbooks cowering in fear when they're in the same room as the m11x, hoping it will be sold soon so they can get back to their peaceful low performance lifestyles >

 

I think it's quite the opposite. We should expect Optimus to come in the refresh. Why? They'll have to change the motherboard configuration anyway, to allow for the new Core iX chipset and CPU. So they'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they didn't utilise the IGP pass-through with Optimus. Also, it's saves them (time & money) by not having to install the complicated series of muxes.

 

Wow, great deal. Even if you're pinching pennies, $699 for the base model and add memory and hard drive later you're in good shape. Either way, it's only another $100 for 4GB and 250GB 7200RPM which is very reasonable. It's still $100 premium for SU7300 though. Crazy.

Wonder what the new M11x's will sell for at launch? I'd LOL if at $999.

 

i already canceled mine and im waiting the news about the refresh..... do you guys think that the release of the r2 will be worldwild as the r1?

 

If you had read the post I was responding to, you would have realised that what I meant was that the previous model wouldn't be updated with Optimus. I agree entirely that the refresh will probably come with Optimus in the first place, because it's far easier to implement.

 

It is indeed a very sweet price, if I would see it in a store here in Belgium I'd grab one without thinking. If you convert to euros its gonna cost €566, which is very low. Since the su4 and su7 series are both overclockable to 1.73ghz without noticeable difference in performance, and the doubtfull performance increase (if not decrease) of the new core i models, I see this as being one of best and costfriendly m11x deals for the forseeeable future.

 

At least all above i3 will definitely be faster (Povray 3.6, less is better; source: notebookjournal.de):

• M11x with SU7300: 1494 seconds
• Acer UL30A with SU7300: 1742 seconds
• Acer UL30JT with i5-520UM: 927 seconds

Perhaps the new chipset will bring

• GBit ethernet
• USB 3.0
• eSATA

 

As far as gaming performance for the most part probably won't matter much, which is primarily what the M11x is all about. Just because it can crunch numbers in a certain benchmark faster, doesn't mean much. Show me FPS from a dozen different popular games, which will tell the story. Only info I've seen is 3DMark06 between SU7300 and i5-520um which the i5 scored actually less somehow. The whole "turbo" thing is still a mystery to me. It's kind of unknown how fast your machine is going to perform, and all depends on cooling and other factors in the laptop. I think it's ok for desktops when you can control the temps a lot better, but in a laptop its left up to the laptop design.

 

I don't know why I didn't think about the fact that they were going to be using new mobo's for the i processors (silly me). But my faith is fully restored in optimus. Maybe a lil USB 3.0 on that shiny new mobo alienware?

 

yeah the "turbo" thing seems strange to me, i don't quite understand how it works. does it simply increase the speed if required?

 

Basically, the processor will speed up under load. It's pretty much the opposite of SpeedStep, but with a couple of additional limitations on power and temperature - although I doubt these would be much of a problem in a ULV processor.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Turbo Boost is greater when the CPU is only using one core. This is handy if almost all of the work is being done in a single thread.

 

this waiting of R2 is killing me, cause i just canceled mine (is date to come 06/06) and now im wondering if the R2 come too expensive !!!!

 

If this is the same "Turbo Boost" asus implemented in its ULXXVT series then the turbo boost doesn't automatically speed up the CPU under load. Its a seperate button, much like the GPU switching on the R1 M11x. It's like manually OC'ing on the fly.

 

No, I'm pretty sure they were asking about Intel's Turbo Boost. The ASUS UL30JT is interesting because it has both Intel's Turbo Boost and ASUS' Turbo33, though.

 

Intel's is done all automatically. I get the concept. It boosts the speed based on number of threads and "boosted" by 133MHz bins dependent on the CPU. the i5-520um has a 4/6 bin, basically one or two threads used will boost by 6x133MHz. Three or four threads by 4x133MHz. These are max values depending on whether "certain criteria" are met, basically based on TDP, so cooling, voltage, etc. This doesn't mean it'll run at that max speed indefinnitely though. Problem is that it seems it's hit or miss how long and what speed it'll actually run at.

The Asus speed boost is entirely Asus' feature. Who knows if Alienware will do the same. However, from what I know how the Core ix CPU's work, raising the lower end will be good, and it just won't go higher than what it can actually manage, so the upper limit of 2.48 GHz depends on whether that specific chip can manage that speed. Otherwise the Intel feature will just not run faster than it can manage. So that 2.48GHz of the Asus is an artificial maximum.

 

Well, the performance figures I've seen for the UL30JT suggest that the CPU does indeed make use of its full complement of Turbo Boost, even with ASUS' additional overclock.

I would like to see more thorough testing of these CPUs, however. Very few sources seem to bother to monitor the multiplier using a proper utility like RealTemp while running performance tests.

 

Well, it'd be good if an NBR rep could get ahold of one of the new Core i5 models so we can do a bench to bench comparison. I'd be willing to run whatever people want. I'd be happy to test the i5 model for NBR even if they could send it my way for a week or so and do comparison benches.

 

One thing I'm curious about is that on the R1 you essentially could turn off the GPU and run the CPU with no overclock for the entirity of your session. This gave amazing battery life. Now that all of this is automatic won't it use more battery power?

For example, on the R1 I want to browse youtube for a bit, I don't enable the GPU or OC and I get say, 7 hours of battery life. Then I do the same thing with the R2 and everytime I come across an HD video it kicks on the GPU and bumps up the CPU clock speed a bit. Eventually I end up with 5 hours of battery.

I'm assuming there will be options to disable this automatic switching, but then what makes it any different than having a button on your computer (which is a lot more convenient).